Comprehensive immigration reform has been a hot topic in the American public in the last few years, if not more. Officials in Washington, including those who campaigned in 2008, cannot escape inquiries regarding the future of immigration in this country. Human rights groups, churches and other non-profit organizations have contributed their voices and that of their religious traditions to this discourse. At the basis of this discussion is the reality that something must be done. Very few, if any at all, are advocating upholding the immigration laws as we have them today. Almost all who have spoken on the issue agree that our current approach to the issue must change. In addition, comprehensive immigration reform is a large undertaking with a myriad of issues to deal with. Matters regarding border security, the guest worker program, legal paths to citizenship are merely the tip of the iceberg.
I have chosen to address the topic of immigration reform for many reasons. First, I believe this discussion is part of an even bigger movement that is occurring in America today that gives heed to people of color in our country. At the intersection of this policy issue are tensions among the Hispanic community and the African-American community. With this in mind, it is of great important that churches in America, especially those who provide care and safety for undocumented workers, must be able to provide its members with a theological framework with which to approach this discussion. Because the Church in America is comprised both of Hispanics and of African-Americans, we must be able to facilitate dialogue among the groups affected by this debate and be a prophetic voice to the rest of society regarding ways in which we can move forward.
Second, I equally feel it is important to deal with this immigration issue in the larger context of our changing nation and the tension with those who would prefer things remain just the way they are. The immigration issue seems to put in jeopardy the very basis of what it means to be an American. For many years, “American” has been largely defined as Caucasian, English-speaking Protestants. “Americans” generally look a certain way, dress a certain way, speak in a certain way, etc. As the Church moves in a more global direction, I submit that it is the job of the American Christian to provide a critical eye to so-called “American values.” We must be leaders in asking the question, can the American dream be a dream for all people or just for a chosen, elite few?
My final reason for my interest in this area is more personal. I was born in the Philippines and have been an immigrant to the United States myself. Both my mother and my aunt came here on worker’s visas. Some of my most vivid memories as a toddler were the times when my mother would talk about her recent meeting with immigration lawyers and the complications of our situation. It is not rare for many policy debates in today’s public arena, while often centered around law and the economy, to put a “human face” to the issue. The experience of individual human beings are often strategically employed by both sides of debates in hopes to gain favor for their opinion. Growing up in and being a part of an immigrant family, one can say my family and I have been some of those human faces to the issue. In my case, my family’s status as educated and materially successful allowed us not only to escape the stereotype and stigma often associated with “illegal immigrants,” it also allowed us access to legal resources and other information that eased our path to citizenship. This has provided me with a unique view regarding the issue of immigration, especially illuminating my understanding of how status and wealth still plays a large part in the immigration debates today.
As I have stated above, the immigration issue is a large, often daunting issue comprised of many interrelated aspects. This essay will no means exhaust even one of these aspects. I would like to focus our discussion on the concepts of the sojourner and the host, which I believe is the best and simplest way to describe the relationship between the United States and immigrants to the United States. I hope to address the concepts of the Promised Land and of hospitality, both in the Biblical tradition and in the American tradition. I believe that these two concepts are the foundations from which all debate regarding immigration reform derive.
I would like to begin with my area of expertise, and that is my own personal experience regarding immigration. My mother came to the United States in the 1990s with a worker visa. By this time, some of her siblings had already been living in the United States. My aunt, now a prominent medical administrator in New York City, first came here with a plane-load of other nursing recruits from the Philippines. For my family, raising a family in America had been an ultimate goal. They, along with many during the course of American history, came to the United States for the promise of a better life. Some immigrants come here not knowing where they are going to live, how they are going to eat and how they are going to sustain their life in a new country.
We encounter this image one leaving their current location in hopes of the Promised Land in other stories. In the Biblical narrative, God’s call to Abram is to be a sojourner, to leave his country, his people and his father’s house for another land that God will show him (Genesis 12:1). Moses himself was an alien in a foreign land (Exodus 2:22) before he was called by God to deliver the Israelites out of Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites... the land flowing with milk and honey (Exodus 3:17). Our own American history begins with pilgrims who left their country of origin because of religious oppression. They set sail toward a land that held the promises of new life and religious freedom. As Christians and especially as Americans, we are inheritors of a long tradition of people who have left their homeland in pursuit of the promise of something better. Our historical and Biblical narratives have shown the risks involved in undertaking this journey; they leave based on a promise, not guarantees, and there is a significant possibility that they may gain nothing in the end. This historical and Biblical tradition should encourage those of us who claim citizen in America and in God’s kingdom to be sympathetic to plight of sojourners and refugees among us.
In addition to the narrative of the Promised Land, our historical and Biblical traditions also create a standard for hospitality. Genesis 18 tells the story of Abraham’s hospitality to visitors. When he was visited by three strangers, the narrative describes that Abraham called for the finest flour and choice calf to serve his guests. This narrative exemplifies the Christian call to welcome and extend hospitality to the stranger. In addition, passages in the Gospel and in Paul’s letters to the early church describe a religious movement based on hospitality. When Jesus sent his disciples out in Mark 6:8, he instructs them to take nothing for the journey. The charge here was to rely on the hospitality that will be provided by those whom they encounter on their journey.
Furthermore, our historical narrative is another example of hospitality. The first settlers of our country did not come to an uninhabited land, but to a land that has already been claimed and developed by another group of peoples. The people who were native to this land extended hospitality to the settlers, some in ways that allowed them to sustain their lives here in a new country. The story of America begins with an act of hospitality. Ancestors of Americans were themselves strangers in a foreign land who relied on the hospitality of their hosts in other to sustain their lives and ensure the propagation of their peoples. I believe that, as inheritors of this tradition, it is the duty of Americans to extend the same hospitality to those seeking freedom and other liberties in this country.
Unfortunately, history also tells us that the hospitality that was extended to America’s ancestors were taken advantage of, and, as we all know, our ancestors exercised force over the Native Americans in order to gain control of this land. This is a dark period in our history, often overshadowed by the narrative of the early settler’s pursuit of an American dream. Perhaps that is not what they have called it, but their concern with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness during their time is congruous to our understanding of the American dream today. Most of those who come to the United States from another country are doing so in pursuit of this dream. Tensions between the Hispanic community and the African-American community, as well as between the Hispanic community and other communities, seem to be rooted in access to privilege and other resources (mainly employment) that would help in attaining that dream just a little more easily. Uneasiness regarding the growth of “minority” populations in America get at the heart of what it means to be an American. Many are reluctant or are afraid to allow this meaning to change. What seems to be implied here is that “Americans” have certain rights and special privileges that are unique to them, so therefore one must be careful with how “American” is defined.
The reality is quite the opposite. Ancestors of Americans are not native to this land. The majority of our population today can trace their lineage back to someone who came to this land as an immigrant from another country. Those of us who claim our citizenship in America now, those of us who are now “hosts” of this country have all experienced the benefits of hospitality extended by a host to our immigrant ancestors. More importantly, those of us who claim our citizenship in the kingdom of God are well aware that all of us are sojourners. As the Psalmist writes, “the earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it/the world, and all who live in it; (Psalm 24:1).” This is not our land. This is not our home. We are ourselves strangers in a foreign land, relying on the God’s providence and God’s hospitality. For these reasons, it is our duty, both as Americans and as people of the Christian faith, to be leaders in immigration reform. We must exemplify the hospitality that was extended to us both in the course of our history, and perhaps more important, the hospitality that is taught to us by our Scriptural and religious traditions.
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